Carl's Jr. Responds to Weak Economy With Premium Quality

Oct 20, 2010

Chain introduces freshly prepared, Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders™

CARPINTERIA, Calif. - October 20, 2010 - While other fast food chains are touting dollar menus and other cheap, lower-quality food to tempt consumers nervous over high-unemployment figures, Carl’s Jr.® believes that people deserve better than that; even when times are tough. So, the chain is introducing Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders™, which provide customers with the kind of quality they would normally only be able to get at sit-down restaurants, if there.

The Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders are made with all-white meat from chicken breasts, dipped in a buttermilk and egg batter, rolled in seasoned flour and then fried to a perfect golden brown. And, all of that fresh preparation is done by hand in the kitchens of each restaurant throughout the day.

“We love to be able to give Carl’s Jr. customers a ‘wow’ experience, as in, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I can get something that good at a fast-food place,’” said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s® restaurants. “We did that with the first sit-down restaurant quality burgers, The Six Dollar Burger®, then we did it again with our Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes & Malts™, and now we’re doing it with chicken. In fact, we may have even surpassed the quality you can get in most sit-down restaurants, since they often use the same kind of partially-fried and frozen chicken strips that our fast food competitors do.”

The product began to roll out to Carl’s Jr. restaurants in September and is now available at most locations, with system-wide rollout scheduled to be completed early next month. Available in three or five piece orders, for $2.99 and $4.49, respectively, the Chicken Tenders are served with Buttermilk Ranch, Honey Mustard or BBQ dipping sauce. They are also available as a combo meal or in Cool Kids meals.

Los Angeles-based Mendelsohn|Zien Advertising, the firm behind many iconic ads for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s,created television and radio ads to support the new Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders. The first ad titled “Receptionist” can be viewed here highlights the product’s appetite appeal and superior, premium quality.

Carl’s Jr. is celebrating nearly 70 years in the quick-service industry. What began as a lone hot dog cart in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1941 is today a wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, Inc. of Carpinteria, Calif. As of the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2011, CKE, through its subsidiaries, had a total of 3,149 franchised, licensed or company-operated restaurants in 42 states and in 18 countries, including 1,239 Carl's Jr. restaurants and 1,898 Hardee's restaurants. For more information, or to find a Carl’s Jr. near you, go to www.carlsjr.com. Carl’s Jr. social media sites include www.facebook.com/carlsjr, www.twitter.com/carlsjr and www.youtube.com/carlsjr.